


You're Still Human

by sunsetstargazer



Category: Chicago Med
Genre: ...kind of, Exhaustion, Hurt/Comfort, Passing Out, Will is a good Friend, connor needs a break
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28953894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetstargazer/pseuds/sunsetstargazer
Summary: Connor doesn't even know how long he's been on the go for but it's too long. He's fine though, right? He's handled worse before and he's determined to prove it. It's a good thing he has his friends to fall back on, even if they can be annoying.
Kudos: 20





	You're Still Human

**Author's Note:**

> A/N So Connor has clearly been selected in my mind. I know he's gone now from the show but in my fics at least he's always still going to be there. Enjoy and please leave a review.

**You're Still Human**

Connor stumbled slightly on the stairs as he ran down to the ER, which was no surprise really considering he had been working for nearly 48 hours now with only a few hours of sleep in that time, and he hadn't eaten anything for over 12 hours now since they had such a rush of patients.

"I was paged for a consult" Connor announced as he walked into the ER, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"Yes, 84-year-old male, suspected MI but he's been coding for the last 10 minutes" Maggie called out directing to where the patient was in one of the trauma bays. Will was doing compressions on the patient and glanced up as Connor came in.

"Right, I'll take over" Connor said instantly stepping up to take over compressions from Will.

They continued with their best efforts to save the man, but it wasn't enough and after another 20 minutes Connor called time of death. Connor stepped back, panting from the exertion and the exhaustion that he had been feeling from before, hit him like a wave dragging downwards. He forced a deeper breath into his lungs and walked out of the room pausing to lean against the wall.

"You look rough?" Will questioned the surgeon as he noticed the way the other man seemed to sag.

"I'm fine, just need a drink" Connor mumbled pulling his gloves off. He closed his eyes for a second trying to gather himself, but for a split second he began falling asleep. He jerked awake just as he was beginning to fall forwards and forced himself back up breathing deeply and shaking his head, but he became aware of a hand on his elbow and a voice in his ear.

"Woah, Connor…" Will said about to ask again if he was ok, but Connor was already shrugging off his hand and heading for the break room.

"Hey, come on, you need to take a break, admit you're still human like the rest of us even though you insist on charging around here like you're some sort of god" Will called following Connor into the break room. Connor ignored him and opened a cupboard getting a glass out and pouring some water into it before taking a small sip, keeping his back turned to Will.

"I know I'm not god Will" Connor said, his voice much quieter than a few moments ago. Unbeknownst to Will, Connor was too focussed on the stars that were beginning to encroach on his vision and the sudden cold, shaky feeling that was washing through his body along with his racing heart, to be bothered about what the other doctor had to say.

"That's not what I meant, I just meant you need to accept your limitations… come on at least turn around" Will said. Connor wasn't even listening at this point. He looked at the water in the glass that was shaking and in danger of spilling, but it took far too long for him to realise it was his hand that was shaking not the ground, which would have been unusual for there to be an earthquake in Chicago. He set the glass down, harder that he'd intended and some of it slopped onto his hand.

"Connor?" Will asked carefully as he inched forwards, beginning to suspect what was going on.

"I think I'm gonna… uhm" Connor mumbled bracing his hand against the counter to try and help him stay upright but his legs were shaking under him and his knees began to buckle just as he sensed Will come up behind him.

"Easy, it's alright, let's get you sitting down" Will's voice came from just next to Connor's ear and he realised that Will had an arm around his chest and the other was holding his arm in a tight grip. He had to trust Will to guide him over to the couch because he couldn't see anything at this point. His foot collided with something and he stumbled for a second a panicked whine escaping his throat before he could contain it. Wills grip on him only became tighter, the arm moving all the way round his chest pulling him against him as he eased Connor down onto the sofa.

"You're ok, just breathe" Will soothed him and Connor felt a hand on his wrist even through the haze spinning around his head.

"Sorry, I…" Connor tried to come up with something to say in a last-ditch resort to get out of this situation, but a wave of nausea hit him at that moment. He clamped his mouth and eyes shut and pulled his hand out of Wills grip so that he could use both hands to support his head as he leaned forwards.

"Connor?" Will said, hoping to get a response probably, but Connor couldn't talk. He had to keep swallowing as saliva seemed to be filling his mouth, and Will must have caught onto the repeated swallowing, because he lunged across the room and grabbed the bin. "Here" Will said, taking one of Connor's hand and guiding it so that he could feel the bin.

As soon as Connor felt his hand touching something, he opened his eyes and was pleased to find that he could see again now with only a few dots floating across. He didn't get much chance to enjoy seeing things again though because his stomach clenched, and he hugged the bin to his chest turning his head down so that it would catch the water and bile that surged up his throat. The hot liquid burned his throat and he coughed choking slightly as it kept coming for what felt like an eternity, but it was less than a minute before he had stopped dry heaving and Will took the bin from him and set it on the floor. Connor took a moment just to breathe and burped almost thinking he was going to throw up again, but he swallowed forcefully and breathed again getting control of it.

"Finished?" Will asked and finally got a response from him.

"Yeah, sorry, wasn't expecting that" Connor said reaching for a tissue from the box on the table in front of him and wiped his mouth quickly.

"Don't worry about it" Will said crouching down in front of him again and taking hold of Connor's wrist again. After a moment he released Connor's wrist again and stood going to retrieve the glass of water that he had put down before.

"Here, drink slow" Will said holding the glass to Connor. He reached out to take it and was surprised to find that his hands were shaking, and he had to take it with both hands to hold it steady, but Will didn't comment. He took a few careful sips, enough to get rid of the taste of bile in his mouth somewhat before he set it down on the table in front of him.

"Thanks, you should get back out there might be more incoming" Connor said hoping that Will would take the bait and leave because as the dizziness abated it was being replaced by embarrassment and he wanted nothing more than to slink home and forget this ever happened.

"My shift finishes in 10 minutes anyway and I'm not leaving you alone right now" Will said and Connor looked down at the floor.

"Ok, well I'm not off for another hour, so I need to go back upstairs and finish rounds. Thanks again for your help but…" Connor spoke as confidently as he could and began to push himself up onto his feet, but several things happened all at once, and none of them were pleasant.

First, he heard Will starting to say something presumably to stop him from going, but his hearing was gone before the sentence was even halfway done, stolen away by the blood that rushed out of his head. Second, the dizziness that he had initially felt came back so much worse he wasn't even sure which way was up anymore. Third, he felt his body go limp and it was as though he had been given a paralytic because no matter how hard his brain fought to get his muscles to move, they remained uncooperative. Finally, the culmination of all these things combined, meant that he went from half standing above the couch to falling forwards onto the coffee table, or at least he would have if an arm hadn't wrapped around his chest and pulled him back at the last second.

It was an odd sensation, one that he had never felt before. To be still semi-conscious but completely unable to move, see or hear anything. He could feel as Will lowered him down onto the couch and dragged his legs up as well. He felt fingers pressing into the pulse point on his neck, and then his eyelids were each pulled up in turn and he knew there was probably light being shined into them, but he still couldn't see anything. The throw pillow was pulled out from under his head and that along with the other cushion were put under his legs, before again the fingers came back to his neck. Slowly but surely sounds were beginning to filter into him, and his name seemed to be getting repeated a lot, but he wasn't quite able to respond yet.

Without warning something firm pressed against his sternum and as it rubbed up and down, he was surprised by the pain that accompanied it and he moaned his hands instinctively curling in towards his torso. Finally, the pain seemed to have given him enough to focus on and his hearing became sharper and he was able to open his eyes again and actually see something.

Everything was blurry and still slightly covered with white and black spots that danced lazily across his vision, but his eyes focussed in and he recognized Will leaning over him his fist still rubbing against his chest.

"Stop it" Connor slurred, bringing his hands up more decisively and pushing at Will's hand. The other doctor's attention snapped back to Connor's face and he looked relieved to see his eyes were open again.

"Hey, you with me again? You checked out for a minute there" Will seemed a lot louder than he had before but Connor knew that was because he had switched into doctor mode fully now.

"Yeah, really dizzy" Connor said his eyes squinting slightly and he brought a hand up slowly to rub at them.

"I gathered that much. You wait here a second I'm just going to see what's free and we need to get you admitted so we can figure out what's going on" Will said, but Connor spoke before he could get up.

"No, I'm just tired. I don't want to be admitted, I'll never hear the end of it from Ava. You can check me over if you want, but then I'm going home" Connor said firmly, but Will just raised an eyebrow and sat back on his haunches.

"Ok, let's say I don't admit you. How do you plan on getting home when you can't even stand up right now?" Will asked smirking and gesturing to Connor's prone form with his legs raised to keep his BP stable.

"I'll call a cab and make it out there somehow, I just really don't want to spend the night here and become part of the rumour mill yet again" Connor pleaded with Will who crossed his arms and sat back down again on the coffee table looking at Connor.

"How about this then? I check you over, and you let me run a litre of saline in because I'm guessing you're dehydrated. Then if I'm satisfied you can come home with me tonight and I'll drop you at your apartment tomorrow after you've gotten some proper sleep?" Will said.

"You could just drop me home tonight, and I'll sleep in my own bed" Connor tried again hopefully but already knew the way things were going.

"No, I'm not happy leaving you alone tonight, so either you come home with me or you're getting admitted" Will laid out the options and Connor barely even took a second to ponder it.

"Fine, I'll come with you. Wait I thought you were back staying with Jay now; he won't want me intruding?" Connor tried the last resort, but Will shook his head.

"Nah, Jay will understand especially when he sees how pale you are right now" Will said suddenly serious. "So, you wait here and I'm going to get an IV for you, then we'll see about going" Will said standing up and leaving the room.

Finally, alone for a moment Connor thought about getting up and trying to make a run for it, but he knew that wasn't possible. He still could feel his muscles trembling and his skin was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat that was making him shiver. Everything still felt a little bit like it was spinning and he was certain that if he tried to sit up right now, he would pass out again. He brought an arm up to cover his eyes and sighed.

He must have drifted off for a bit because the next thing he knew someone was pulling his arm straight and he opened his eyes to find Will already wrapping a tourniquet around his arm. He inserted the IV catheter into a vein and soon Connor was the not so proud owner of an IV line that was running saline into his bloodstream.

"Ok, let's see what's going on" Will turned and pulled over a small cart that Connor hadn't noticed before and pulled out a blood pressure cuff. Connor lifted his arm obligingly and waited as Will wrapped it around his upper arm before he let his arm rest back down again. Will then put a pulse oximeter on his finger before turning back to turn the monitor on. Instantly Connor felt the cuff tighten around his arm and he shifted uncomfortably, the soft sound of Velcro opening but Will's hand was instantly on his shoulder.

"Just relax for a minute, I need a reading" Will said his hand moving down from his shoulder to smooth the Velcro back down on the BP cuff as it finished tightening and swiftly loosened again. A soft beep came from the machine and Connor turned to look.

"Pulse 90, BP 100/58 and sats 97" Will mumbled more to himself. "Ok, you're stable for now, so let's let the saline run in over the next half hour and then we'll see how you are then" Will said and Connor nodded letting his head flop back to rest on the couch. He half dozed for a while and wasn't really aware as Will moved around, sometimes on his phone and at one point having to deflect Maggie as she tried to come in and investigate what was going on, but Connor was grateful because he didn't want her to come in and lecture him the way he was sure she would. By the time the half an hour had passed, and his IV bag was empty he felt better, or at least the world was no longer moving like he was on the deck of a ship. He had, had his eyes closed for the last 10 minutes or so but not quite drifted off to sleep, and so he wasn't surprised by Will's gentle hand on his shoulder and his eyes snapped open to meet his gaze.

"Hey, you're IV's done and you're BP has come up slightly. Do you want to try sitting up now?" Will asked.

"Yeah, not spinning anymore so that's good" Connor said, and he waited as Will carefully removed his IV and put a plaster over the hole. He took off the pulse ox and BP cuff and pulled his feet down off the cushions and slowly sat up grateful when Will slid into sit next to him and subtly kept a hand on him to help push him up.

"Ok, bit dizzy but it's already going away" he reported, and Will smirked.

"You think you can make it to my car then? I don't want to have to carry you again" Will asked and Connor felt himself flush red.

"Not like I meant to pass out on you" Connor said, and Will smiled offering a hand to him.

"I know that, but still you might want to lay off the burgers for a bit" Will retorted getting a scowl from Connor as he accepted the hand up. Once he was on his feet, he could feel himself swaying a bit, but his vision stayed mostly clear and his knees weren't giving out, so he figured he was doing better than before at least.

"Any dizziness?" Will asked still holding Connor's arm.

"Yeah, but nowhere near as bad, let me just grab my…" Connor started but Will was already holding his coat out open so that Connor could slide his arms in easily. He did so and let Will pull the coat up over his shoulders, before stepping away from the other man and unlocking the box above his coat hook to get his wallet and keys out. He went to reach for his bag, but Will had already swiped it along with his own bag.

"Come on, let's get out of here before Maggie comes checking again, I barely convinced her to leave you be last time" Will joked and Connor smirked following the other doctor out of the doctor's lounge. Luckily everyone seemed to be occupied by something or other as they walked through to the exit. Once they were outside Connor felt the cold wind cutting through his coat and shivered, but he pressed on anyway and followed Will as he led him to where his car was parked. By the time they had got there his legs were shaking again and he was starting to wish he hadn't been so insistent about leaving the hospital, but he was stubborn and there was no way he was going back now.

"It's unlocked you can get in" Will spoke breaking Connor out of his thoughts and he looked up to see that the other man was down by the trunk throwing their bags in while Connor was just stood slightly hunched over by the car. Shaking himself slightly he reached out and pulled the door open and dropped down into the seat. He pulled the door shut and put his seatbelt on huffing out a tired breath and shifted further down in the seat wrapping his arms around himself and leaning against the window. He felt the car drop slightly and then the door slammed as Will got in. He was grateful when Will didn't say anything, because he definitely wasn't in the mood for small talk. The car started up and pulled out onto the road merging in with the other traffic.

Connor had really meant to stay awake for the drive, but the motion of the car and the quiet hum of background noise combined with his already exhausted state meant he lost the battle very quickly. He was starting to get annoyed with the number of times Will has shaken him awake today, but here they were again. He opened his eyes to the window still pressed against his face and he pulled himself upright looking around to see they were pulled up in Will's driveway and Will's hand was still on his shoulder.

"I'm awake, let's get this over with then" Connor said and began undoing his seatbelt. Will opened his own door and got out of the car. Connor blinked sluggishly as the light came on above him and he groaned pushing his own door open and stood up out of the car in one motion. Inevitably his head began to spin again but luckily, he avoided actually collapsing by leaning against the back door of the car and slammed the front door shut.

He followed Will up onto the porch and waited as the other man unlocked the front door, shivering against the harsh wind. The door finally swung open and Will went in ahead of him holding it open as he came in almost tripping over the doorframe in the process. Will immediately grabbed for his arm, but he shrugged it off because he was already steady anyway.

"What do we have here?" a third voice joined them, and Connor looked up to see Jay had just walked into the front room, presumably to investigate who his brother had brought home with him.

"Oh yeah, Jay. Connor's going to stay here tonight, I thought it would be ok. Sorry I didn't call ahead" Will explained hurriedly and Jay didn't seem bothered, just shrugging.

"It's fine, but why? You two got something going on I should know about" Jay smirked winking at Will who groaned.

"No, it's nothing like that, it's just… Hey Connor man. Sit down, let's not do that again" Will caught himself before he started arguing with his brother when he noted the way that Connor's face had gone several shades paler in the last few moments. Connor who had been waiting to see if he was going to be allowed to stay, jumped out of his trance and stumbled the last few steps on shaky legs before sitting down heavily on the sofa letting his head rest back against the wall and closing his eyes for a moment.

"Ok, what's going on?" Jay asked his voice switching to a more serious tone.

"He's been on the go for god knows how long. He passed out twice earlier and since he didn't want to be admitted and I wasn't going to let him go home and collapse there, I figured this was the next best option" Will explained and Connor chose this point to interject.

"Stop worrying Will, I'm fine. It's only been 3 days, I've done longer before" Connor huffed, and Will let out a slightly hysterical laugh.

"Oh well I'm sorry. You seemed completely fine while you were unconscious earlier and I had to drag your ass up before you got a concussion on the corner off the table" Will half shouted, and Jay stepped in at that moment knowing he needed to diffuse the situation.

"Ok Will. You go take a shower, and I'll get some dinner going" Jay said moving to stand in front of Will who huffed but nodded and moved off towards the stairs and the sound of his retreating footsteps confirmed he was gone.

Jay also retreated to the kitchen leaving Connor in peace in the front room, which he was grateful for. He pulled off his jacket and reached down untying his shoes as well and threw them a few feet away before lying down on his side. He was asleep in seconds.

When he woke up this time it wasn't sudden, or to someone shaking him. Instead, it was slow and almost luxurious. He felt warm and comfortable and the headache that had him practically wanting to cry the night before was gone completely now. Rolling over he felt a cold draught coming in under the covers, and he opened his eyes to investigate his surroundings. Considering the last thing he remembered was lying down on the couch he was surprised when he found himself lying in a bed with the covers pulled up over him, and he had no idea where he was. Rolling the other way, he found his phone on the bedside table and picking it up he saw it was 10am the next day. Considering he got to Will and Jay's about 6pm the day before and couldn't have been awake for more than 10 minutes he was pretty shocked at how long he'd been asleep.

He shuffled up on the bed so that he was sitting up and smirked when he saw that his shoes, coat and bag were all on the floor by the bed. He realised that he must still be in their house. His bladder was the main reason that he had to get out of the bed and investigate further. He moved to the side of the bed and put his feet down on the floor letting his body adjust slowly but other than feeling absolutely ravenous he felt much better.

He stood up still being careful but there was no dizziness this time and he padded over to the door quietly and pulled it open. He still didn't recognize the hallway since he hadn't been in Jay's house before, but he saw the open door and found the bathroom easily. He went in and relieved himself, before flushing and going back out into the hallway. The room he was in was next to the stairs so he went downstairs hoping to find one of the brothers so he could ask for a lift home, and he seemed to be in luck as he found them both sitting in the front room watching TV.

"Hey sleepy head. You finally decided to grace us with your presence then" Will looked up from the TV.

"Very funny, is there any chance of one of you giving me a lift home?" Connor asked tiredly rubbing at his eyes.

"I will in a bit, but first you need to eat something. You slept through dinner and it was like trying to wake the dead to get you upstairs, we basically had to carry you" Will said and Connor couldn't keep eye contact breaking to look down at the floor.

"Did wonder how I got up there, just figured I was too tired to remember walking. You could have just left me on the sofa" Connor began to defend himself, but Will simply smirked and glanced over at Jay.

"Don't worry about it, turns out Jay isn't the best at patient transfers, he dropped you a few times on the stairs and you may have kneed him somewhere unpleasant at one point, by accident I assume" Will laughed as Jay flushed red.

"Oh wow, I'm sorry about that… umm" Connor said turning his attention to Jay, but the detective looked more annoyed at Will.

"Well maybe if you hadn't stopped to take pictures it would have gone a little easier" Jay said looking incredibly confident all of a sudden.

"Pictures… Halstead you didn't?" Connor said praying he'd misheard but knowing from the grin on Jay's face that he hadn't.

"Hey, you weren't supposed to… Maggie wanted to know how you were doing and there may or may not be a good chance that she's put some of them up on the bulletin board in the staff room…" Will said hesitantly.

"Maggie, really you had to… Would have been better if I'd just let you admit me" Connor said rubbing his face. He looked down at the floor for a moment but ultimately knew if the roles were reversed the night before he would have definitely done the same to Will, and they had still taken care of him even if they'd abused that power slightly. "Fine, let me see them and you better make a decent breakfast because you have got a lot of making up to do" Connor said having to hold back a slight smile since he couldn't help but see the funny side.

"Here" Jay held out his phone with the photos already open as Will disappeared into the kitchen to start cooking. There seemed to be endless photos of himself asleep on the sofa, then him with multiple random objects balanced on his forehead. Then the photos moved to Will with Connor draped over his shoulders trying to hold him up but he was clearly half asleep, and then finally they reached the stairs where it seemed that they had both been taking selfies with him as they tried to pull him up and finally a video of Jay trying to lift Connor on his own quickly cutting off when Connor's knee swung forwards hitting Jay somewhere no man ever wanted to be hit.

"Next time I'm definitely making a run for it" Connor muttered under his breath trying his best to sound angry.

"You love us really" Will shouted from the kitchen laughing and Connor couldn't help but join in.


End file.
